Sonya Hartnett – författare

Growing up during the 1980s in the safe complacency of the Australian suburbs, Plum Coyle should be happy. But on the cusp of her fourteenth birthday - and on the fringe of her peer group - she lives in terror of the disapproval of her cruel and fickle girlfriends, and most of all, she hates her awkward, changing body with a passion.So when Plum's glamorous next-door neighbour Maureen, a young wife and mother, befriends Plum, Plum responds with worshipful fervour. Plum feels herself reinvented. With Maureen, she becomes the girl she's always wanted to be. But Maureen has an ulterior motive for taking Plum under her wing . . .

A brilliantly told magical story that questions what it means to be free.World War II, Eastern Europe: Tomas and his younger brother, Andrej, have fled their Romany encampment which has been besieged by the Germans; they carry Wilma, their baby sister, in a sack. In an abandoned, bombed-out town, the children discover a zoo. In it are a wolf and an eagle, a monkey, bear, lioness, seal, chamois and llama. The animals tell their stories to the children as they try to begin to understand what has become of their lives and, when they try to figure out a way to release the animals, what it means to be free.

A novel that explores the many varieties of love, by one of the very best contemporary writers.This magical story, told in the elevated tone of a fable, begins with a visit by a teenage boy to the home of 75-year-old Matilda. She tells him the story of her life with Feather, a man who lived by the sea and had a great affinity for birds and wild creatures. She speaks of her love for him and how, long ago, she had become pregnant but miscarried, and he left her. Her grief was inconsolable for a very long time and she longed to find Feather to ask him, “How can you know love, and lose it, and go on living without it, and not feel the loss for ever?” She eventually finds Feather and he answers her question, and in doing so helps her to deal with her overwhelming loss.

A mesmerizing psychological thriller from extraordinary novelist Sonya Hartnett (age 14 and up).Gabriel is dying from an undisclosed illness. He relives his brief twenty years, remembering his parents' over-protectiveness, his wild friend Finnigan who encouraged him to do terrible things, and his dear dog Surrender. Told from the perspectives of Gabriel and Finnigan, this is a brilliant, chilling novel that will stay with you long after the final page is turned.

During the long, hungry years of the Great Depression, Harper Flute's family struggles to cope with life on the hot, dusty land. Her younger brother Tin seeks refuge in the contrast of an ancient subterranean world. A world that nurtures but - as disturbing events in the community reveal - can also kill. A world that is silent, yet absorbs secrets. A world that has the power to change lives for ever. Sometimes you have to dig deep to survive...

During the long, hungry years of the Great Depression, Harper Flute's family struggles to cope with life on the hot, dusty land. Her younger brother Tin seeks refuge in the contrast of an ancient subterranean world. A world that nurtures but - as disturbing events in the community reveal - can also kill. A world that is silent, yet absorbs secrets. A world that has the power to change lives for ever. Sometimes you have to dig deep to survive...

Ever since Dad went off the deep end and decided he didn't need to work anymore – insisting the Lord would provide – Satchel O'Rye has felt stuck for life in his dying country town. A high school dropout drifting from one small carpentry job to the next, Satchel can see nothing beyond his own dreary duty to help keep the family afloat. But things start to change when he spies a strange doglike animal at a nearby mountain – and mentions the fact to Chelsea Piper, an awkward young woman considered the local pariah. Could the animal he saw be a Tasmanian tiger, a marsupial thought to be extinct? And if they found it again, could it give them both a new chance at life?A mesmerizing tale of a young man fighting his future, a young woman fighting her past and a mysterious creature who teaches them something about survival by an international award-winning author and the recipient of the prestigious Astrid Lindgren Prize.

Ever since Dad went off the deep end and decided he didn't need to work anymore – insisting the Lord would provide – Satchel O'Rye has felt stuck for life in his dying country town. A high school dropout drifting from one small carpentry job to the next, Satchel can see nothing beyond his own dreary duty to help keep the family afloat. But things start to change when he spies a strange doglike animal at a nearby mountain – and mentions the fact to Chelsea Piper, an awkward young woman considered the local pariah. Could the animal he saw be a Tasmanian tiger, a marsupial thought to be extinct? And if they found it again, could it give them both a new chance at life?A mesmerizing tale of a young man fighting his future, a young woman fighting her past and a mysterious creature who teaches them something about survival by an international award-winning author and the recipient of the prestigious Astrid Lindgren Prize.

Three children go to the shop to buy ice-cream and never return home.The year is 1977. Nine-year-old Adrian lives with his gran and his uncle Rory. He loves to draw and he wants a dog. He’s afraid of quicksand, shopping centers and self-combustion. But as closely as he watches his suburban world, there is much he cannot understand. He does not, for instance, know why three neighbourhood children might set out to buy ice-cream one summer’s day and never be seen again...In this suburb that is no longer safe and innocent, in a broken family of self-absorbed souls, Sonya Hartnett sets the story of a lone little boy – unwanted, unloved and intensely curious – a story as achingly beautiful as it is shattering. As her quiet tale ominously unfolds, we are reminded of how fragile are the threads that hold us secure – and how brave, how precious, is the heart of each child who soldiers on.

Three children go to the shop to buy ice-cream and never return home.The year is 1977. Nine-year-old Adrian lives with his gran and his uncle Rory. He loves to draw and he wants a dog. He’s afraid of quicksand, shopping centers and self-combustion. But as closely as he watches his suburban world, there is much he cannot understand. He does not, for instance, know why three neighbourhood children might set out to buy ice-cream one summer’s day and never be seen again...In this suburb that is no longer safe and innocent, in a broken family of self-absorbed souls, Sonya Hartnett sets the story of a lone little boy – unwanted, unloved and intensely curious – a story as achingly beautiful as it is shattering. As her quiet tale ominously unfolds, we are reminded of how fragile are the threads that hold us secure – and how brave, how precious, is the heart of each child who soldiers on.

The forest is earth and leaves, sun and shade, feather and blood and bone. It is the old way, the true waythe wild way to live. But, for Kian, wilderness is not home.

The Willows own a decaying caravan park. When trusting Oliver befriends an outsider intent on uncovering the secrets of their family, the Willows'' world is blown apart in a shocking climax. Published to much acclaim, Sleeping Dogs was the winner of both the 1996 Victorian Premier''s Literary Award Sheaffer Pen Prize and the 1996 Miles Franklin Inaugural Kathleen Mitchell Award.

Award winning children''s author, Sonya Hartnett, weaves a compelling drama of friendship and choice that is perfect reading for the 15+ market.   Louie has finished with her old life, and stepped into a world of sinners. For her, nothing is going to be the same again. This darkly funny, disturbing novel explores a lawless world where morality is a nuisance, everything can be bought, and the prices paid are high.

Award-winning novelist, Sonya Hartnett, weaves a truly magic spell of words, emotion and imagination that is un-put-downable. Excellent writing for 15+ readership.   In this epic tale of desire and devastation, of enemies and strong friendships, of bloody revenge and lasting love, Sonya Hartnett traces the extraordinary life of Lord Tyrone Sully – a man who voyages to the edges of the heart to find, at last, joy.

Sometimes, when there is evil enough, that evil comes to life, and sets up home with you...''He draws her close, envelops her as if with wings. She does not resist him or the kisses over her face and when he tilts her chin up, she lets him, exposing the flesh of her throat. When she goes home that day she will wear the marks of the devil, the clinging smell of oil, the bruising of her neck.'' This is a chilling and disturbing novel from the author of Sleeping Dogs and Wilful Blue.

Indigo and Ravel are identical twins. When one threatens to break out of their obsessive, dependent relationship, there are disastrous consequences. A dark, brilliant novel with Gothic overtones, from this extraordinary young writer.

A chilling, subtle, deeply absorbing mystery. Seven gifted young artists are collected together in a monastery. But tensions build, and death follows.

Acclaimed author Sonya Hartnett is firmly Melburnian but has restlessly moved from suburb to suburb in her search for the ''Last House'' – that special corner of the world in which to settle and find contentment. Viewing her life and work through the lens of real estate, she vividly recalls the places she has passed through on her way to finding home.Expanding on her 2010 Redmond Barry lecture, this short memoir is a beautifully atmospheric exploration of the idea of home and what it means to be a writer in a City of Literature.

Charlie met the wild one when he was young. Together they caught tadpoles, and watched spiders weaving webs.  But as the sun rose and fell, and the moon circled the world, Charlie forgot the wild one''s magic - until it was almost too late to remember . . . From acclaimed picture-book partnership Sonya Hartnett and Lucia Masciullo comes a celebration of the wonders of childhood, the beauty of nature and the wild that lives in us all.

With their father, there''s always a catch . . . Colt Jenson and his younger brother Bastian have moved to a new, working-class suburb. The Jensons are different. Their father, Rex, showers them with gifts – toys, bikes, all that glitters most – and makes them the envy of the neighbourhood.To Freya Kiley and the other local kids, the Jensons are a family from a magazine, and Rex a hero – successful, attentive, attractive, always there to lend a hand. But to Colt he''s an impossible figure in a different way: unbearable, suffocating. Has Colt got Rex wrong, or has he seen something in his father that will destroy their fragile new lives?Sonya Hartnett''s novel for adults is an unflinching and utterly compelling work from one Australia''s finest writers. ''Golden Boys has a line-by line brilliance that is startling ... [Hartnett] is one of Australia''s most penetrating analysts of the travail and turmoil of families, especially as witnessed and suffered by the young.'' Weekend Australian ''Sonya Hartnett is that rarest and most precious of writers: a reverse Peter Pan.'' Saturday Paper ''A web in which it is a pleasure to become entangled.'' Saturday Paper ''Succinct and vivid.'' The Age ''A fine portrait of the charming predator.'' West Australian ''An absorbing, fiercely elegant and tangibly believable novel that raises questions about our responsibility to bear witness – and details the complex obstacles to doing so.'' Australian Book Review